Pokemon GO Developer Niantic is Making an NBA Game

gamerant.com:

Established in 2010, mobile game developer Niantic is best known for releasing the outrageously popular Pokemon GO in 2015. In addition, the studio announced an upcoming AR game called Peridot in April, with a full release coming later this year. However, the Android and iOS developer isn’t content with one new game, bringing its preferred flavor of augmented reality to the world of professional sports.

Niantic unveiled the upcoming NBA All-World with a new blog post and teaser trailer. The officially licensed game doesn’t have a specific release date yet, but Niantic’s reportedly been developing it secretly for some time already. Interested sports fans can also pre-register on NBA All-World’s official website.

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The thirty-second-long teaser doesn’t offer much insight into how the game functions, just showing a few logos and an animation of the world turning into a giant basketball. However, developers shared a few screenshots showing a game reminiscent of Pokemon GO. Senior Producer Marcus Matthews said that NBA All-World “blends the real world with 1-on-1 basketball action, collecting, fashion and more.” Players pick up upgrades and cosmetics at the game’s equivalent of Pokemon GO’s PokéStops. These locations will include real-world basketball courts and sporting goods stores. Meanwhile, players will go head-to-head against NBA stars like Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum in NBA All-World’s equivalent of Gym Battles.

Niantic is developing the new game with assistance from HypGames, an Orlando-based studio that specializes in Android and iOS sports games. Founded by former Outlaw Sports developers, the team brings decades of development experience to the table.